mrgrumpy

my wife and I are hoping to travel to australia in mid april. We aim to meet our daughter who is at the moment traveling in SE Asia. We are from UK and both in early 60s. We are thinking of meeting in sydney and then not sure. Then maybe hire a car after 4-5 days in sydney and heading north. Is Brisbane area worth the journey for 2 weeks or should we head south to melbourne/adelaide etc. I assume driving is going to be more economical than tours etc. My daughter has travelled from Uk to Malasia totally overland so she is pretty good at organising things (she is 30 this year). Any thoughts on itinary would be most welcome. we enjoy exploring cities and a few days in the countyside so we are pretty open to suggestions

thanks in anticipation

dottyp

Hi, mrgrumpy (I'm sure you are not really). I agree with you about self-driving being more economical but we find tours give us a lot of interesting local info about the area we are travelling in. A mix is good. Driving between Brisbane and Sydney would probably take a couple of days (my sister and her DH just drove to Brisbane from Sydney over two days, and the same back to Sydney.) It's only a 90 minute flight between the two cities.
What are you interested in? That would help us advise which direction to go. Both the areas you mention I have found really interesting but my interests could well be quite different to yours. (I am in my early 60s, and enjoy nature and learning as much as possible about a place I visit.)

longhorn55

Having lived in Australia and traveled there extensively both during and after the time we lived there, I have found that a good "rule of thumb" for travel is no more than 3 destinations for 2 weeks and no more than 5 destinations for 3 weeks. Also, it's a large country so I would plan to fly between destinations unless your goal is a driving trip, e.g. a 2-week driving trip as we once did from Canberra-Adelaide-Great Ocean Road-Melbourne-Canberra.

I suggest you check out a couple guidebooks and look at a map of Australia and decide what you'd like to see and do. The "Sydney, Rock, Reef" combo is a popular choice for a 2-week stay and it gives you a chance to see some of the best and most iconic parts of Australia--Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru.

mrgrumpy

thanks for reply. We have no must do’s just see the cities and country at our leisure. we don’t want to be in situation of if its tuesday this must be melbourne!!!!! Being such a large country we would rather drive a small part of it and see the country and people rather than sit in a plane watching everything rush by 30,000ft below. We would rather be there. This is the mind set my daughter had travelling through europe and asia and said you see so much more and meet real people not just airport staff and hotel workers. So would a good idea be to drive sydney to bisbane on the coast road taking 2-3 days and returning by the inland route taking the same amount of time. any recommendations for stops would be welcome

pat_woolford

Hi Mr Grumpy, have driven Sydney-Brisbane in 11 hours but wouldn't recommend it. The "coast" road (Pacific Highway) barely touches the actual coast so you would have to allow time to travel back and forth and with a couple of overnight stops I would think 4 days would be minimum. Two days on inland return would be OK, but not much time for getting off beaten track.

People have suggested flying between points because you then avoid tedious hour after hour on the road. Just renting a car from Brisbane airport, or Gold Coast airport even better, you can be in truly great rainforested countryside and beaches in a couple of hours or less, which will give your more time to appreciate the areas. Anyway, with your time frame I definitely would fly/drive.

ivenotbeeneverywhere

Very good points by Pat Woolford and I would suggest the same.
There are some great deals on flights out now and I would suggest that the GBR would be the destination of choice because there is so much to see and do there.
In saying that you should put aside about 4 days in Sydney ( you will NOT need or want a car there) then fly to the Gold Coast and see the surrounding countryside and the beautiful flora and fauna before getting the train to Brisbane Airport where I would then fly to Cairns and spend a good deal of time there and the surrounds.
Rent a car in Cairns if you wish and get some short tour trips perhaps to see the native animals on the Atherton Tablelands - go out to the Lava Tubes - taste the World's best coffee in Mareeba where it is grown - tour the beautiful lakes and see the HUGE and amazing fig tree. Stay at the little town where you can find Allan ( who writes on this forum) and who has a wildlife tour company and who hopefully will fill you in on all the wonderful things there.
There is so much to see and do in and around Cairns that, particularly at the time of year you will be here, it is the number one destination for me as the weather will be wonderful and you get much more for your money.